


Fire's Glow

by wilddragonflying



Series: Discoveries [1]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Exploration, Gen, Headcanon, Investigation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-17
Updated: 2014-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-09 07:31:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1974225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wilddragonflying/pseuds/wilddragonflying
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiccup and Toothless set out to find out more about Drogo; what they find, however, hits much closer to home than anyone could have expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fire's Glow

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first part of the works I will be making to explain my headcanons(I've already used them to blow a few of my friends' minds, haha).
> 
> Not sure how many parts, but my headcanons include:  
> Toothless not knowing something about his own body  
> How Drogo gained control of the Bewilderbeast  
> Dragon/Dragon and Dragon/Rider communication

Hiccup stood next to his mother, watching one of the Deadly Nadder hatchlings they'd ridden from the Bewilderbeast's nest try to use the spikes on its tail. It was an instinctive behavior, for the most part, but the finer details were always taught to the hatchlings by their parents. This hatchling's parents, however, had been killed shortly before the egg had hatched; thus, the egg's temperature had fallen, and both Hiccup and Valka suspected that that had impaired the dragon's instincts. The hatchling still knew most things, and knew how to puff out the spikes in a threatening display, but was having trouble controlling when she launched the spikes, and when she smoothed them back down.

"She's doing much better," Hiccup murmured.

Valka nodded in agreement. "It is sad that she cannot learn this from her parents, but she has us and the other Nadders here," the rider answered. "It will take her longer without her parents, but she will learn, eventually."

His mother's words tickled something in the back of his mind, but when it didn't immediately surface, Hiccup didn't pursue it; that never helped. "Drogo caused a lot of damage, and a lot of pain," he muttered, looking around to where Vikings were still working to remove ice from the former alpha's attack. He frowned thoughtfully. "He couldn't have done it without that Bewilderbeast," he said, a bit louder. "But, how did he gain control over it in the first place? Even you couldn't control your alpha."

Valka hummed under her breath. "I always believed that Bewilderbeasts could not be controlled, for they were the parents of all dragons, stronger than any of their children could hope to be," she said slowly. "And I never had need to try to control my alpha, for he was a good alpha. But if one were determined enough, crazy enough... It could be possible."

Hiccup's frown deepened. "He controlled his dragons by dominating them. That means he had to make them believe that he was stronger than them, more powerful than them. The only thing is, how could he have done that with a Bewilderbeast? Size alone would have made it impossible."

Valka turned to look at Hiccup more fully. "Son," she started, laying a hand on his shoulder. "What are you thinking?"

Hiccup turned to look at his mother, struck once more by the similarities between them; he couldn't help but feel a pang at the thought that every time Stoick had looked at him, the man had seen so much of his wife in his son. Now, Hiccup could see why Stoick had always been so awkward around him. Bringing his focus back to the present, Hiccup answered, "I'm thinking I need to know more about Drogo-- so that we can be prepared if something like this happens again."

Valka was quiet for several heartbeats, before nodding slowly. "I cannot stop you, can I?" she asked, a wry smile quirking her lips.

Hiccup smiled in return. "You could, but I think this is something that needs to be done."

Valka nodded. "Very well then. Who will run the village while you are gone, and are you going alone?"

Hiccup thought that over for a moment. "Just me and Toothless, I think," he said slowly. "And I will leave you and Astrid in charge; I trust both of you more than anyone except Toothless."

Valka smiled. "I will make the announcements, then, while you prepare."

***

Hiccup had made his goodbyes, and was now soaring through the clouds above Berk. "Let's go back to the Bewilderbeast's nest, boy," he called, leaning forward to pat Toothless. "I have something I want to find." Drogo's cape had been bothering him for a long time; it had to have been key in Drogo's ability to conquer dragons. 

Toothless was clearly unhappy to go back there, but he complied nonetheless. It didn't take long with a Night Fury's speed to reach the island, and it was easy to locate the cape. Toothless landed, and Hiccup dismounted. He picked up the cape, and his brow furrowed; something about it seemed... Familiar. Knots winding themselves tighter in his stomach, Hiccup laid the cape down and spread it out, taking a step backward.

A sick feeling spread from his stomach as Hiccup recognized the pattern and dull shimmer of the scales. "Night Fury," he whispered. Toothless rumbled an unhappy sound, stepping forward to nose at the cape cautiously. When the dragon looked at Hiccup, the Viking's heart dropped. Toothless's gaze was broken, despairing. Hiccup stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Toothless's neck. "We'll find out what he did, bud," he promised. "We'll make sure it never happens again."

***

There weren't many clues about Drogo's past, and it took a lot of work to convince those people who had known Drogo to talk about him, but eventually Hiccup tracked down one of the few surviving members of Drogo's birth village. The survivor, a woman named Elika, lived in a village west of Berk; she greeted Hiccup with a gentle handshake. "You ride a Night Fury," she observed, settling into a chair just outside of her house.

Hiccup nodded. "Berk... We used to hunt dragons; I shot him down, but I couldn't kill him. I let him go, but later, I became friends with him."

Elika smiled. "Drogo was obsessed with Night Furies," she said softly, her voice sad. "After our village was destroyed by a flight of dragons led by a Night Fury, he vowed to have his revenge. It didn't seem to matter to him that the dragons only attacked us for the first time, and all because we had launched an attack against them. The ruins of our village are a few miles from here. Drogo and I, along with a few other men, moved here. Drogo was a quiet boy, but not in a shy way. It was a cold, calculating silence. Even before the village was destroyed, Drogo wasn't... Normal. He was far crueler than any other boy; more than once, I heard his mother whispering about things she'd caught him doing to the rats in the storeroom, and more than a few cats and dogs disappeared around the time that Drogo would come home with blood in his hair and under his nails. He always claimed it was from hunting, but the rabbits and fish he brought back could not have made that much blood, or the scratches on his body."

Elika told Hiccup much more about Drogo, his past and how he'd blamed and become focused on the dragons, determined to make them pay for what they'd done to him, his village, and his family. The most important thing she told him, however, was about what had happened shortly before Drogo left the village for good. "He tracked down the Night fury who had led the attack against our old village. When he retuned he had many new scars... And a new dragon skin."

***

Even though it had been years it was still easy to find where Drogo had fought and killed the Night Fury. The fight had taken place in a small clearing at the base of a stony cliff; the skeleton was still there, and it was unmistakably a Night Fury. Toothless started acting odd; he was sniffing around, making worried and confused chuffing noises. Hiccup had never seen him like this before, but when he questioned Toothless about his behavior, the dragon had seemed just as clueless as Hiccup. Concerned, Hiccup resumed examining the remains, but they were too easy to decipher. Drogo had tom one of the dragon's wings off, and had proceeded to beat it bloody; the grass that grew around the clearing was too stunted for any other conclusion to be reached; dragon blood was poisonous. Drogo had obviously skinned the dragon, using its hide to protect himself from dragon fire.

Toothless pulled Hiccup from his thoughts with a soft whine, and the Viking reached up to rub his snout reassuringly. Toothless didn't seem satisfied with that, however; he started nudging his rider towards the cliff face. "Okay, Okay," Hiccup sighed, climbing into the saddle. "Show me."

What Toothless showed Hiccup made the Viking almost want to puke. Roughly halfway up the cliff, there was a small cave. In this cave were three unhatched eggs, and the fragments of another one. ''She had eggs," Hiccup whispered, aghast. 'That's why she didnt just leave the fight. She had a clutch to protect." Toothless's expression was sad, and he nosed at the shell fragments gently. As they clicked together, so did the pieces in Hiccup's mind. "Your clutch," he murmured. "This is where you were hatched."

Toothless nodded, and Hiccup couldn't do anything but move towards his friend to wrap his arms around the dragon's neck. "Drogo killed her before you guys could hatch. You were the only one who did."

Toothless nodded again, and not for the first time, Hiccup wondered just how intelligent Toothless really was.

***

They stayed like that for a while, and then Hiccup and Toothless buried the remains of Toothless's mother; they were quiet during the whole time, and when they left, it was with heavy hearts. They still had not found anything to clear up just how Drogo had gotten control of the Bewilderbeast, but they had to return to Berk now; they'd been gone for quite some time, and people would be worrying.

Berk was still standing when he returned, and Valka was the first to greet him; Cloudjumper flew up beside him and Toothless, and Hiccup had grimaced. "I need to talk to you," he said, and Valka had nodded. They didn't get a chance to talk until late that night, but as soon as they were alone, Hiccup couldn't keep quiet. "Drogo had a Night Fury skin; that's how he was able to survive dragonsfire. He got it from Toothless's mother; his village had been burned down by dragons led by a Night Fury, and later he killed it. We found the site, and near it was a cave, with three unhatched eggs and some shell fragments."

Valka's eyes were sad. "Night Furies have been disappearing for ages now," she murmured. "They were already rare to begin with. If this clutch was the last..."

Hiccup nodded. "Then Toothless is the only living Night Fury left. It also explains why he needed you to show him how to expand his spines-- He's like that Nadder. The fire's temperature dropped before he hatched, and inhibited his growth. It was close enough that it wasn't anything really major, but just close enough that..."

"That he would need help," Valka finished. She smiled in Toothless's direction; the Night Fury was pressed against Hiccup's leg. "Poor boy. Did you find out anything about the Bewilderbeast? How he could control it?"

Hiccup shook his head. "No. We didn't have time-- I didn't want to leave Berk for too long, and Toothless felt the same way. But hopefully... Hopefully I'll get another chance, or someone will hear or see something."


End file.
